


Injustice Rectified

by Merfilly



Category: Once and Future King Series - T. H. White
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Arthur has set his Queen's fate in accordance with law, he turns to change their path outside of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Injustice Rectified

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lexigent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexigent/gifts).



Arthur closed his eyes after he had ordered the additional guards. He hoped that it would be enough, that seeing them would turn aside the madness he knew lurked within the knight that had to save his queen. 

Only…

He had promulgated his laws for the betterment of all, yet here was Mordred, using his very laws to twist a knife deep within his soul. All around him, he had seen his mighty ambitions of a Just Court, a land with Law and Protections, being warped, twisted, even outright abused into something perverse. Why was he pretending to uphold the law when his heart told him the base of his Kingdom had already fractured? He had completely failed to account for humanity's nature itself in setting up the Round Table, and now his beloved wife, his best friend, the kingdom itself were set to pay the price.

With a weighty sigh, Arthur removed all trappings of his office, setting them where they could be found, and acquired armor that would disguise him from even his most loyal knights. The King had done what he must; now the man would take his place outside of the history falling around his ears.

* * *

Arthur's attack on the guards had come none too soon. It had been difficult to defeat them all, having long been accustomed to the ruler's place, yet not a one would die from their injuries. He had only barely managed to whisk Guenever onto his destrier when he heard the sound of another set of hooves thundering onto the flagstones of the courtyard.

"Hold tight!" he told his queen, voice pushed deep by desperation, and hoped she still did not recognize the source of her salvation. She did hike her white shift scandalously high to have a better chance of staying on the horse, knotting her slender fingers in the mane ahead of her. His destrier whirled and went just where he was pointed, racing past the incoming savior. Guenever's shout made that one turn, and then it was a race of the powerful brute Arthur had chosen from the stables against Lancelot's rage and insensate need to save Guenever himself.

How far they rode, Arthur was not certain, but at last, in a thicket that would slow any other pursuit, he let his mount come to a halt, knowing he might very well have to do battle with his own friend. Guenever stayed on the destrier as Arthur forced himself off, tired from the fight to save her, and the frantic flight. Yet Lancelot's sword was in his hands as he too dismounted, assuring Arthur that he would have to fight to make his case.

"No, Lancelot!" Guenever called from the back of the destrier. "Do not go against your king!"

Both men were stunned, for neither the horse nor the armor declared Arthur's identity, and he had carefully secured Excalibur to the horse, using a broader, flatter blade for his mission. Lancelot let the tip of his sword lower, while Arthur looked from his friend to his queen.

"How, Guenever? How did you know it was I?" he asked, removing the helm that hid his face.

"That you fought so nobly, even when pressed hardest by those that guarded me, tangling their limbs or rattling their helms rather than let them die by your blade," Guenever answered firmly. "The blows you gave to Gareth, and Gaheris, to render them insensible, were delivered with an apology on your lips, though I doubt any of the men heard it in the battle lust."

"Why?!" ripped from Lancelot's throat, and Arthur turned now to him, plunging the heavy sword he carried into the earth and approaching his friend bare-handed.

"Because of love, my knight. Because I am not blind to the love of two people that my heart beats for. Because I am not deafened by the bleating of sedentary knights at my table when the people are crying out about the abuses they suffer. By law, I had to punish Guenever. By the heart within my chest, I had to abdicate, for my vision of Camelot rotted itself out many years before. It is time to begin anew." He was in range of Lancelot's sword when his words ended, able to see the torture in those eyes behind the slit of the helm. "Join me once more, not as my knight, nor even as hers, but as my friend. Join me in seeking the truth of these Isles. Join me in resisting the darkness that will soon descend, for I have removed the victim Mordred seeks, and intend to replace it with a ghost that haunts the boy instead."

Slowly, the madness and torture wore away from those shadowed eyes, until Lancelot lifted his hand and swept away the helm. He knelt in a tired fall, sword in front of him and point down.

"I am ever, Arthur, at your service," he said. His voice cracked, and then he looked up. "Yet, there is love, and it is a torture unto me."

Guenever's breath caught audibly behind Arthur, and he knew he had to put this part to rest swiftly.

"I stand not in your way, Lancelot, for love is a truth that nothing may stand in the way of," Arthur told him. "As of today, my last act as king, is to annul the marriage I have enjoyed, as it is without issue, and make of Guenever a free woman, constrained only by her own choices."

"Arthur?"

The now former king turned to view his former wife and queen. He kept his face clear of the roiling emotions in his soul. He did truly love her, had never ceased such, yet he loved Lancelot as much, and wished both to be happy. "Guenever."

"I do not accept this annulment, if you are truthful in stating my choice holds sway," she said in an even voice. As Lancelot's head fell forward in defeat, she continued. "The people, if you mean to fight for them, need the symbol their united king and queen at war on their behalf. And we both need a champion. Let us then show the world that we forgive, and that we love in our own fashion, as simply as the people with their spring rites and such," she finished.

Arthur's brow furrowed, before he looked to his friend, finding hope there on the defeated, tired features. "Lancelot, my brother, is this your wish? To love, while the pretense of marriage remains upon she and I?"

"There will be no pretense," Guenever's voice intruded, breaking whatever Lancelot might have said. She slid from the back of the brute she was upon, approaching them in her shift, the outfit that she would have been executed in, had Mordred had his way. "I love Lancelot. I also love you, Arthur. Did not Jacob himself take two brides? Did not Abram know the love of his wife and her handmaiden?"

"But that is the distant past, before Marriage was ordained between a man and a woman," Lancelot protested.

Guenever smiled at him warmly, then reached for both men, taking their hands when they could not but respond to her. "If Love is truth, and God himself said to Love each other, can we not set aside the laws of man and listen to the Laws of Heart?"

Arthur listened to her words, and reached down to place his hand upon Lancelot's shoulder. "Such wisdom from the lips of one we both love, brother of my heart. Shall we listen, and let her be our guide in Love, as we set upon our course to speak for the people against Tyranny?"

"Do we have a choice, Arthur, when she has plotted our path for us?" he answered. Slowly, Lancelot took his feet again, and drew in a deep breath. "They will organize a pursuit soon," he stated, more stable than he'd been since before the affair had been discovered.

"We will go to ground. I know a forest where few can follow," Arthur said. "It will be a rough life, until we have the peoples' hearts behind us, to end Mordred's corruption of Camelot."

"Then, my husbands," Guenever said, accepting this new life as the Providence she had prayed for. "I believe we should ride, so that you both may begin the making of our new ways."

Arthur laughed, feeling free, and indicated Lancelot. "Brother, take her upon your mount this time, and follow me closely," he said, to show his trust in this situation.

"I will be at your heels, brother!"


End file.
